Wings of Nothing
by DarkAlphaWolf01
Summary: War isn't pretty. For the Thundercats, the nightly air raids are near death sentences. With the lives of his people at risk, Lion-O makes a decision that will change his life and of those around him forever. Rated M for graphic scenes of violence, and for later chapters. Hints of LiChee. !ON HOLD!


_**A/N: with there being loads of hard work, I haven't been able to write very often, and I am suffering from writer's block for Grey Soaring. I'm expecting to have the third chapter up sometime after Christmas. This is a story that is kind of a Christmas present as I haven't uploaded more of Grey Soaring. I'm not entirely sure on when I'll have the first chapter up (this is just the prologue.) So, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. **_

Wings of Nothing

Prologue- The Never-ending War

_**It's been years now since we first came to Third Earth and battled the Mutants for the first time. Now that we're on New Thundera and have been for 2 years, they have taken over Third Earth. You'd think that they would have given up by now, but they haven't. Now that the Mutants have got rebel Thunderian fighters on their side who have committed treason by turning to Mumm-ra as their leader, they've got many of our weapons and aircraft. Every night, the air-to-ground missiles and bombs are dropped on the outskirts of the city, and we can't do anything about it. Entire villages have been wiped out, whole families killed in the bombings whilst they try to settle for the night. Our weapons just don't have enough firepower. If everything continues like this, then I'll have to consider joining the...**_

I barely have time to finish writing my sentence before the air raid siren goes off. The room shakes as the first bomb hits, making me blot ink all over the page as my pen breaks. Fire rages in the distance into an uncontrollable inferno. It's not fair. They're my people, but they are dying in fear and agony. I feel useless. Another explosion shakes the ground, throwing me out of my chair seconds before the lights spark and the power goes out, then I hear a terrified scream. Wilykit. I grab the Sword of Omens and Claw Shield from the stand by the side of my bed before running to the door. "Lion-O! We need to get outta here! This place is falling apart!" Tygra shouts as he comes in. I follow him to the kittens' room and as we race in, I see Wilykit kneeling next to her brother's unconscious body, sobbing. I've had enough of these attacks!

"Wilykit, are you ok?" I ask as I kneel beside her. She looks at me before replying "When the first explosion hit, we ran for the door, but then the second explosion hit and we were sent flying. Wilykat got hit by a support beam..." The creaking of iron rings in my ears as I look up, only to see that part of the ceiling is missing. Tygra picks Wilykat's limp body up and heads towards the door. "It's ok, Wilykit. We're going to be alright." I say, trying to reassure her as we run down the corridor. "Lion-O, I'm scared!" she cries, before screaming as another explosion throws us off of our feet.

"They're firing upon us directly now, Lion-O!" I hear Cheetara shout as she runs up behind us, carrying the Snarfs under each of her arms. Pumyra and Bengali run out of their room, the white tiger holding their young son, Benjamin. "Mummy! Daddy! What's going on?" the cub shouts then screams as yet another explosion racks the lair.

I hear the whistle of another bomb, then the deafening explosion which is followed immediately by the roar of fire. "Is everyone out now, Cheetara?" I ask as we continue running.

The cheetah simply replies "Everyone's out, but Panthro and Lynx-O are wounded. We need to get to the shelter!" Out of the corner of my eyes, I see the flames blazing in the corridor behind us, filling the air with smoke; acrid, burning smoke. Wilykit sees, and screams.

"Lion-O! I can hear another aircraft! It sounds like an F-117 Nighthawk! They're going to bomb us again!" Bengali shouts. Sure enough, the sound of engines overhead splits the air, second before the very air cracks from the ensuing explosion. I hit the wall as chunks of twisted, smouldering iron and stone are sent flying everywhere, narrowly missing us by mere millimetres. Bruised and covered in scrapes, I get to my knees and wipe my mouth on my hand. I can feel some type of liquid oozing from my bottom lip; blood. "C...Cheetara...Pumyra..." I groan as I look around. But, they're running towards the door.

"Lion-O! Lion-O, c'mon! Get up! We need to go!" I hear Cheetara shout over the reoccurring explosions as she helps me get to my feet. The cheetah slings my right arm over her shoulders then we start to walk down the corridor. "We're not out of danger yet, Cheetara!" Pumyra says as she slings my left arm over her shoulders "We might not have enough time to get to the shelter!"

It takes us longer than we'd expected to get to the shelter. I look behind me at the lair. The whole entire west wing had been taken out by the bombs. Fire rages out of control in the courtyard. What have they done? They'd used fire bombs. Thank Jaga they hadn't used atomic bombs, or we'd all be dead. My home...destroyed. There's got to be a way to stop all of this barbarism!

"Lion-O! Get into the shelter!" Tygra shouts as he grabs the back of my shirt before dragging me down the steps into the underground shelter and locking the door. I hear the strike of a match seconds before the soft light illuminates the darkness, bathing the sorrowful and terrified faces of my friends in shades of orange and yellow.

"Is everyone ok?" I ask as I sit between Cheetara and Wilykit. The young wildcat screams as the sixth explosion shakes the ground. A chunk of concrete comes loose from the ceiling and falls to the floor in front of us. Wilykit throws herself into my arms, shaking with fear. I gently stroke her mane and try to reassure her again. "Wilykit, remember. We're safe down here..." I say, but the shockwave from another bomb shakes the ground. "That felt like a direct hit!" Wilykit screams. Snarf purrs then curls up in my lap, laying on his back, letting Wilykit stroke him.

"Is anyone hungry?" Tygra asks as he takes some food rations from a box. He passes everyone a packet of dry, hard crackers and a slab of stockfish each. "How can the Mutants keep bombing us like this? They've never been this determined to wipe us out." I say as I sink my fangs into the fish. It's the most tasteless thing I've ever eaten; it tastes like cardboard.

"Try to get some sleep," Pumyra says as she hands out blankets and pillows. We bed down for the remainder of the night, but I don't think that anyone can sleep. The damp, earthy smell of the shelter combined with the choking smoke from outside makes me uncomfortable. But, I can hear voices from outside; Thunderians and Mutants.

"I'm certain that they were out here!"

"I agree. I saw the lion running towards this spot."

I hear footsteps overhead, so I motion to everyone to be silent. Thank the gods that the trapdoor doesn't open inwards. The voices grow faint, but I hear Slithe.

"They're still here. I can smell them, yessss?"

"How can they have survived? We've completely wiped out their lair!"

Jackalman.

"C'mon, go away! Go away!" I say beneath my breath.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" another voice shouts. Then, I hear gunfire. Wilykit gasps and I have to clamp my hands over her mouth. They'd just shot someone dead...

The time goes by so slowly. The mutants were long gone by midnight and the all-clear sounded at half past, but no-one slept during the remainder of the night except Benjamin. I'm sick to death of these nightly air raids! Something has to be done! When we open the trap door, we are greeted with a scene of pure carnage:

Various shell holes scar the ground from the bombs, and the lair is pretty much destroyed. The fire has ravaged the whole building, and smoke still pours from the windows. In the daylight, the damage looks worse. I can't stand this any longer.

"How long do you think it will take to repair the damage?" I ask Tygra. He studies the wreck in silence before replying "I'm not sure. Maybe a few days at most. Our best bet would be to ask the Snarfs for help to rebuild the lair." I think for a while before deciding on what I'm going to do.

"We need to go and check on the people in the city." Pumyra says as she starts to run towards the lair. We follow her to the hangar where the Thundertank is. It's not damaged in any way, shape or form, so we get in and Panthro initiates the engines. The Thundertank picks up speed as I push the throttle down. "At this rate, we should be at the city in 5 minutes max." I say as we speed past broken, charred trees. It's unbelievable how much damage the bombs caused. Shrapnel from the bombs litters the grass, smoking and red hot from the explosions. It's horrific. I hope that no-one is seriously injured. The city boundary comes into view, and the houses have been completely flattened. Panthro stops the tank and we all climb out. The scene fills my eyes with tears of rage mixed with sheer despair. Families, men, women and children are lying on the sides of the roads, limbs and appendages bandaged or missing. "Lion-O!" I hear a familiar voice shout. I turn around and see Torr; he's hobbling towards us on a crutch, and his right arm is completely wrapped in bandages. "Where the bloody hell have you been? We've been dying in fear, but you didn't fight last night!" the young Thunderian says as he stops in front of us.

"We were being hit with missiles and fire bombs all last night, and we were half asleep. Call it a rude awakening!" I snap as I glare angrily at him.

He seems unfazed by what I'd just said. "Come on. I've got some important yet depressing news to tell you." he says as he walks down the street. We rush after him, and then come to a stop in the city centre. "The majority of injuries is just cuts, bruises and scrapes, but there's a few broken bones. However, the death toll is even higher than those injured." he says as he opens the flaps of a tent. What lies beyond makes me feel sick. Row upon row of bodies wrapped in bloodied sheets cover the floor. The remnants of internal organs and flesh drip onto the floor from tables where bodies lie piled up on top of each other. Torr stops beside two bodies that are covered by separate sheets, then kneels down before speaking in Ancient Thunderian. "Tavs tēvs mīl tevi, mans dārgais mīļais meitu. Atpūtas mierā tagad, mans salds." he says as he kisses his fingers and gently touches the smaller body before turning to the other. Shaking, he says "Atpūtas mierā, mana mīlestība."

Shocked, I say "They're your wife and cub?" Saddened, Torr nods before saying "We ran for the shelter of the basement, but a direct hit wiped out our home. The explosion killed them both instantly. Anyway, we'd better carry on." The Thunderian commoner leads us on through the streets, but a building catches my attention. Before anyone can notice, I slip through the doors then slink up to a table where an Asiatic lion sits at a desk, dressed in army uniform. "How can I help you, my king?" he asks as he bows slightly.

I gulp nervously before replying.

"Where do I sign up?"


End file.
